National budget 3.30.09

Monday

Mar 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMMar 30, 2009 at 3:30 PM

GateHouse News Service National Budget
For 3/30/09 editions

Here are the top national stories coming today from GateHouse News Service. Stories are available at http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/. Please submit stories below no later than 6 pm local time, unless you have breaking news that is changing significantly.

MORNING MINUTES: Note: we’ve added a little “today in history.” And we’ll still offer Word of the Day, Web Site of the Day and Number to Know. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/morning_minutes

HEALTH VIDEO: Old school gym class for adults.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x180616363/Health-Fitness-Videos-This-week-adults-go-old-school-with-gym-class

BIONIC HAND: Amputees share their stories of adaptation and survival - Thanks to a $70,000 state-of-the-art prosthetic and a $16,000 paint job, Karl Chapin's right hand, upon a cursory glance, looks like any other. But it is actuallyone of the world's first bionic hands: the i-LIMB. MetroWest, McDonald, with photos
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/health/x1579105113/Amputees-share-their-stories-of-adaptation-and-survival

KNEE REPLACEMENT TECH: Knee replacement technology has patients on their feet faster. (Editor notes: These photos and videos contain graphic medical surgical images that may not be suitable for everyone.) Includes box on osteoarthritis.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/health/x1579104494/

JULIE FAY: Accidents will happen - After changing diapers for the better part of six years, it’s been wonderful to have them out of my life. Timmy joined his older siblings in wearing big-kid undies about a year and a half ago, and he’s never looked back.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/columnists/x1660810815/

A CLASSICAL EDUCATION: Christian school features educational traditions of ancient Rome - Unlike most private, Christian schools, Aletheia School bases its curriculum on classical education. The school's educational philosophy is rooted in the educational traditions of ancient Rome and focuses on the building blocks of language, logic and rhetoric. PEORIA
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x549585022

GETTING KIDS TO READ: As the author of 32 children’s books, a first-grade teacher for 25 years and the father of two sons, Jim Aylesworth knows what it takes to get kids to read. He and several other authors and illustrators of popular literature for children and young adults were among the speakers at the Illinois Reading Council conference earlier this month in downtown Springfield. The conference drew nearly 3,000 teachers from across the state. Among the topics discussed were ways to engage more children in reading, and to get children to read more often. SPRINGFIELD
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x1732142177

Entertainment

SUDOKU: April puzzles (281-308) are now posted in the new Puzzles category. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/puzzles/x110664362/Sudoku-puzzles-281-308

EASTER PUZZLES: We’ve uploaded both a secular and a Christian word find. The secular one will run on our Kidz Buzz / NIE page. The other you can run wherever you have kids content.
Christian version: http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/puzzles/x1416196331/Christian-Easter-Word-Find
Secular version: http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/puzzles/x67539898/Easter-Word-Find

ALBUM REVIEW: 'Beautiful: Opus of Love Deeper Than Flesh,' by Kankick
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/entertainment/music/x1402121054/

MICHAEL WINSHIP: Veteran Washington journalist Wllliam Greider fears that what the Obama administration is proposing may not create reform, but simply perpetuate more of the same. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x1931049852/Michael-Winship-More-of-the-same-with-Obama

RICK HOLMES: The politics of outrage - Americans are not taking to the streets. Our outrage mostly consists of media figures and Washington politicians hyperventilating about bailouts and bonuses. Our targets tend to be bureaucrats, not billionaires. As many people are mad at the United Auto Workers union as at the high-flying auto industry CEOs.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x1732142879/

PETER COSTA: April is cruelest month for college admissions - This is the week when most colleges send out their acceptance letters and applicants’ hearts either sink or soar. This is a time when you really can be too rich or too thin. "Thick you win" is the mantra because the thick envelopes contain financial information and other critical documents for the accepted applicant. CNC
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/regional_news/east/massachusetts/x549584709/Peter-Costa-April-is-cruelest-month-for-college-admissions

EDITORIAL: Recycling programs can help cut school costs
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/editorials/x1402120482/
To localize: Do schools in your community have a recycling program? How much money are they saving?

EDITORIAL: Turning our eye to Mexico's violent drug trade - Violence associated with the drug trade flowing into the United States from Mexico has spiked on both sides of the border, creating widespread concern over the many law-abiding citizens of both countries who are caught in the crossfire. An editorial from the Peoria Journal Star.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/editorials/x180616999

EDITORIAL: Personal touches push progress, from the Cold War to today - It's not often that a former head of state, arguably one of the most important political figures of the 20th century, certainly one of the most powerful people on the planet at one time, and a Nobel Prize winner visit central Illinois, all in the same person. Yet there was former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev on Friday in Eureka, college home of his one-time nemesis and ultimately his friend and fellow world changer, former President Ronald Reagan. An editorial from the Peoria Journal Star.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/editorials/x180617008

News

INVENTOR GOES FOR WATER POWER: Inventor has device to harness power from rivers without dams - Armed with an open-ended 55-gallon drum and a used boat propeller from eBay, Northborough inventor Richard Burton plans to bring hydroelectric power to the masses, no dam required. MetroWest, Morton, with video and photo
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x549584668/Video-Inventor-has-device-to-harness-power-from-rivers-without-dams

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT’S STORY: Dream fulfilled, illegal immigrant couple returns to Brazil - For six years, Fernando Rodrigues lived the life of an illegal immigrant in Framingham: toiling more than 90 hours a week slicing meat at a Brazilian restaurant, staying out of trouble to avoid attention from the police, and getting paid under the table to save as much as possible, all to secure a life in his native Brazil. MetroWest, Mineo, with photo
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/regional_news/east/massachusetts/x1579105073/Dream-fulfilled-illegal-immigrant-couple-returns-to-Brazil

FAMILY PRESSES 9/11 CASE: An Ashland man whose 72-year-old mother was killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, is fighting for public access to nearly a million pages of confidential documents on 9/11 airline security. MetroWest
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/regional_news/east/x180615523/Massachusetts-family-presses-9-11-case-against-airline

Business / Ag

DISAPPEATING JOBS: On Feb. 12, as President Barack Obama stood on the factory floor of one of the world's largest companies, coaxing passage of his $787 billion stimulus bill while the nation watched, Frank Smith was watching from home in Metamora, knowing that his job at Caterpillar Inc. left months ago. About 1,700 living-wage, union jobs at Mossville were lost when Caterpillar inked a deal with Seguin, Texas, to build a new $170 million plant there. The president's speech wasn't going to change that. Still, what had changed between Caterpillar's decision to move Mossville jobs to Texas and now was the business climate. Smith and his fellow 813 co-workers at Mossville - the first of the 1,700 layoffs there - have been plunged into the most desperate job market in 26 years. They’re far from alone. PEORIA
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/features/x140394594

LEAD LAW AND ATVs: Does lead law go too far? Motorsports retailers feeling effects
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x180616070/
To localize: Are retailers in your area seeing effects from the Consumer Safety Improvement Act of 2008? Check with ATV dealers, bike shops and other motorsports retailers. Are consumers having trouble finding parts? Are trade groups in your area taking action?

FRUGAL FOOD: Shopping for food becomes exercise in frugality
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x1660810818/
To localize: How are people in your community finding ways to save on groceries? Are supermarket chains in your area expanding lower-cost offerings? Are they launching any special programs to help customers? Speak to shoppers and store managers or nutritionists to find out how they're adapting to the current economy. What tips for saving can they add?

MAKING CENTS: Grasping the basic kinds of financial risk
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x180615478/

COUNTRY CLUBS FEEL PINCH: (GOOD TO LOCALIZE: Find out if country clubs in your area are struggling) For people biting the bullet on the household budget, where does a golf club membership fall on the priority list? Pretty low, according to some country clubs. MetroWest, Haneisen, with photo
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/business/x1525905494/Country-clubs-whacked-by-economy

IT’S TAX TIME: We’ve started a package of links to news service content about tax time that we’ll add to as more stories flow in. Check it out, and check back as the links grow.
http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/special_reports/x1362391193/